TORRIJAS

Long time since I last posted here, but setting up in a new country has taken a while.

These are called 'torrijas', an Easter dessert that is eaten all over Spain, and they are divine. Nobody in my family (by which I mean no women, because men did not cook - surprise!) made them when I was little, but once every year la señora Paca in my village would make big trays of these and give us one. They are perfect for  Easter, because they feel properly sinful after all that Lent restraint.  Think of them like the much better version of French toast: made with delicately flavoured milk, fluffy not mushy, and with a hint of honey at the very end.

You need:
Stale bread (proper crusty bread) cut in thick slices - it really has to be stale, so buy it, cut it and leave it in a cupboard for a couple of days.
250 ml milk
150 ml sugar
peel of a lemon
a cinnamon stick
a teaspoon of vanilla essence
two eggs, beaten
two tablespoon of honey
Unflavoured oil (sunflower or alike) - a very generous amount
150 ml water

Start by preparing the flavoured milk the night before you are going to make these: just bring to the boil the milk, cinnamon stick, lemon peel, 50 g of sugar and vanilla; put it in a sealed container and let it cool down (in the fridge) over night.

Heat the oil in a frying pan (over medium heat). Soak the bread properly into the flavoured milk (the bread should absorb as much milk as possible), then coat the bread with the beaten egg and fry until they are golden on both sides. Don't bother putting them on kitchen paper when you take them out of the pan to get rid of excess oil: you only eat these once a year, so 'excess' is the whole point of them.

You can prepare the honey syrup  by just combining the water, 100 ml sugar and honey and boiling it  for 15 minutes over low heat. The nicer way to do this (and indeed most other syrups) is to prepare a caramel with the sugar, honey and a teaspoon of water (just put it over low heat and wait without stirring until it becomes golden), then add carefully the rest of the water and boil for 8-10 minutes. You can also add a teaspoon of whisky or cognac to the water and caramel (before you boil it), which obviously makes the syrup even better. Let the syrup cool down a little and pour over the torrijas.

These are eaten at room temperature.

LADY FINGERS - BIZCOCHOS DE SOLETILLA

These light little things are called bizcochos de soletilla. It is what elegant ladies eat with hot chocolate in Spain. As far as chocolate is concerned the Spanish population is divided in two: posh ladies who drink hot chocolate in the afternoon, served in fine china and with 'soletillas' on the side; and everybody else who drinks hot chocolate in the morning in normal cups with fried churros (see our recipe). I know what you are thinking, but elegant men eat churros and that seems to be fine.

After 382 posts in this blog I am sure you already know that I am more churros than soletillas. But still, I loved soletillas when I was growing up. In my village there was a really good bakery (Pasteleria Frias) which actually still exists. They used to make soletillas and sold them on strips of baking paper. Eating these with a cup of hot chocolate or a glass of milk seemed the height of sophistication at the time - little did I know then that they can be made cheaply and in almost no time!

You need:
- 2 eggs
- 60 g self raising flour
- 50 g sugar
- a teaspoon of vanilla essence
- half a teaspoon of baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- two tablespoons of icing sugar

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees.
Mix the egg yolks with the sugar and beat well. Add the vanilla essence. Separately whisk the egg whites with the salt until they are stiff. Fold the whites into the yolks mixture.  Then sift the flour and fold it into the mixture. Pipe the mixture into 6 cm strips on a sheet of baking paper. Dust the strips with the icing sugar just before getting them into the oven. Bake for 12-15 minutes (the precise timing depends on your oven, but they should be pale)

TIGER NUT MILK

If you have not heard of tiger nuts you better start reading about them because they are the new miracle food (together with goat… yes, really). Luckily they are actually very nice, unlike those horrendous chia seeds (centuries ago Columbus brought from America tonnes of new goods:  tomatoes, pineapples, squash, vanilla, potatoes, cocoa… why do you think he left behind the chia seeds??!!)

Anyway, back to tiger nuts, in the Spanish Levant (Valencia) they have been using tiger nights ('chufas') forever in a drink called horchata, which is to die for in a hot summer day. I actually like the tiger nuts as such and eat them as peanuts. But making them into this horchata milk is a good way to get the children to eat them.

You need:

 - 200 gr of tiger nuts (only way to buy these in the UK as far as I know is to buy them dried through Amazon where you can buy a kilo of tiger nuts for £12.95. If you buy them like this you need to re-hydrate them, for which you need to leave them in water for a whole night. But in Spain and other countries you may find them fresh)
- 800 ml water
- sugar: see how much you like, I try to put as little as possible (none at all or a couple of spoons max, but in Valencia this drink is very sweet, so to make the original recipe you would need around 100 g of sugar)

You just need to mix the three ingredients and blend them well - that is all. Keep it in the fridge. Drink it as such or with a bit of powdered cinnamon sprinkled on top. Or with plenty of ice if you make this in the summer.

OXTAIL - RABO DE TORO

This is a truly typical Spanish dish. Very humble, and yet fierce, as it used to be made in the past with the tails of fighting bulls. Spanish food at its very best. If you are lucky to be in Andalucia you should go to Cordoba to try this dish. It is a beautiful town with one of the most stunning mosques in the world (though my favourite mosque is still the Great Mosque in Damascus) and the best 'salmorejo' and 'rabo de toro' in the whole of Spain.

You need:
- 2 kg of oxtail (chopped in thick chunks)
- a large onion (in big chunks)
- two clove of garlic (whole)
- 2 carrots (in 2 cm chunks)
- a red pepper ( in chucks)
- a stick of celery (in chunks as well)
- 2 bay leaves
- 700 ml red wine
- 300 ml water
- a quarter of a teaspoon of parsley
- salt
- plain flour
- olive oil

Salt the ox tail and dust it well with the plain flour. Heat a pan with a generous amount of olive oil over medium heat and fry the oxtail on all sides until it gets golden (this should take 3-4 minutes). Reserve it.

In a deep pan, put the same oil that you have used to fry the oxtail (I normally get rid of half the amount as otherwise the dish is very heavy) and add the onion, celery, carrots, pepper and garlic. Let the vegetables fry. After 10 minutes, add the oxtail and then the wine, water, parsley, bay leaves and a bit more salt. Increase the heat to maximum, wait until it starts boiling and then lower the heat to minimum. Let it simmer for 3.30 hours.

I usually let the dish rest overnight so that the fat solidifies at the top and it is then easy to get rid of it. However if you do not mind fat then eat it as such (the more fat, the more flavour…).

Take the oxtail off the pan. Put all the vegetables and sauce in a blender so that you get a very thick sauce.

Best way to eat this is with fried cubed potatoes.

NISCALOS WITH POTATOES

This is a very typical dish from my region: 'niscalos con patatas'. Niscalos are saffron milk mushrooms. They are delicious orange mushrooms that grow up in pine tree forests, especially amongst the 'pino albar' variety. The village close to mine, Pedrajas de San Esteban, produces most of the pine nuts for the country - or at least the non imported ones... - to the point that the whole area is called 'Land of Pineforests'  or 'Tierra de Pinares". During the months of late October and early November that is how we spend our afternoons; wondering in the 'pinares' picking up 'niscalos'.  If you get big ones you can just grill them ('a la plancha') with a touch of garlic. But if you get little ones the best way to eat them is with potatoes in a thick soup.

I bought the niscalos for this dish in the Fruteria Vazquez of Madrid as I was rushing to the airport from a meeting there. You can see the picture of the wonderful fruteria in our Instagram account (miriam-gonzalez-durantez). It is one of those traditional shops where (if it wasn't for the price) you could just buy it all in one go.

For this recipe you need:
- three tablespoons of olive oil
- half a green pepper (diced very thinly)
- a leek (chopped very thinly)
- 4 medium size potatoes (in bite-size chunks)
- a bay leaf
- a quarter of a teaspoon of parsley (chopped thinly)
- two cloves of garlic (chopped very thinly)
- 80 gr of ham  (serrano of a similar variety chopped into small cubes)
- niscalos (as many as you can get, but around 500 gr for 5 people)
- water (around 700 ml)
- half a glass of white wine

The most important thing is to clean the niscalos really well as any bit of sand will just ruin the dish (and your teeth!)

In a deep pan heat the oil. Add the garlic, leek and free pepper and wait for 3-4- minutes (over medium heat) until the vegetables get soft. Then add the niscalos (if they are big just cut them into bite size chunks). Wait for another 2-3- minutes and add the potatoes. Let it all fry for a further 2 minutes. Add the paprika, parsley and ham. Then the bay leaf and after 2 minutes add the water (it should just barely cover the niscalos). When the water is boiling (you should see the bubbles) add the wine. Let it all simmer for 20 minutes and serve. This dish is better the day after you have cooked it.

and these are the niscalos:

TUNA SANDWICH

This is one of my favourite sandwiches from my 'most-est favourite' tapas bar in Spain: La Criolla (in Valladolid). They serve it with mini ciabatas as a tapa, but you can make it with normal size ones so that it becomes a lunch.

You need:
- a ciabatta roll (you can also do this with a baguette)
-1.5 piquillo peppers (open them up so that you cover the whole of the roll with the peppers)
- tuna (half a small tin) - the original recipe is with ventresca, i.e. the belly bit of the tuna which is very moist, but good quality tinned tuna works well.
- two green olives
- 2 prawns
- an anchovy fillet
- a teaspoon of mayonnaise
- a drizzle of olive oil
- tiny bit of salt

Open the ciabatta roll. Drizzle each side with a tiny bit of olive oil. Put (in this order) the piquillo peppers on top of the bread, then the flaked tuna, followed by the prawns (cut them in half horizontally so that you end up with 4 thin prawns) a bit of salt, the olives (cut in half) the anchovy fillet and finally the mayonnaise. Put the other half breadroll on top. Put it in a sandwich bag and into the toaster, or under the grill for a few minutes so that the bread gets warm. Eat immediately.

AJO BLANCO

This is a very easy cold soup from the South of Spain. Very garlicky, but very good.

You need:
- 200 gr almonds (raw and without skin. If you can only find almonds with skin then put them in a bowl with boiling water for 4-5- minutes and you will be able to peel them easily)
- half a glass of (good) olive oil
- 2 glasses of water
- a clove of garlic ( if you are brave try with 1.5 cloves, but children may find it too strong)
- a teaspoon of salt
- 1.5 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
If you like the soup thick and do not mind the carbohydrates add a slice of stale bread (without the crust). And if you like it thinner just add more water.

Blend all the ingredients together. Let the soup cool down in the fridge for an hour of so.

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SCALLOPS GALICIAN STYLE / VIEIRAS A LA GALLEGA

This is a traditional way to eat scallops in the north-west of Spain. You need:

 - 6 scallops or vieiras, as they are called in Spain .cleaned and with one-side shells- it is always worthwhile leaving them for an hour or so inside a bowl with cold water and a handful of salt as this eliminates any 'sand' within the scallops) If they are small you may want to use two 'vieiras' for each shell.
- 1 onion (diced thinly)
- 120 gr Spanish ham (iberico, serrano or at a push Parma ham) - also diced thinly.
- 100 ml white wine
- juice of a quarter of a lemon
- three tablespoons of fine breadcrumbs
- two table spoons of olive oil and then a drizzle for the final touch
- chopped parsley (1-1.5 teaspoons)
- salt

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees.
Heat the two tablespoons of oil and fry the onion (low heat) until it is soft (around 12 minutes). Then add the diced ham, wait for  3 minutes, increase the heat and add the white wine and lemon. Leave it on for 3-4- minutes until the wine evaporates. There is no need to salt this mixture as it has ham, but add a little bit of salt to the scallops.

Divide the mixture between the six shells of the scallops. Put a scallop on top of each filled shell. Mix the breadcrumbs with the chopped parsley (and a tiny bit more salt) and sprinkle a tablespoon of breadcrumbs on top of each scallop. Drizzle the breadcrumbs with a tiny bit of olive oil. Put the scallops on a tray and put the tray into  over for 15 minutes plus a couple of minutes under the grill so that they come out a bit brown on the edges. Eat immediately.

PRAWN 'LITTLE SALAD' - ENSALADILLA DE GAMBAS

This is a version of the 'Ensaladilla Rusa/Little Russian Salad'  (see our recipe) that is typical from the South of Spain (from San Lucar de Barrameda, by the beautiful natural park of Donana in Cadiz, to Huelva).  They have  some of the best prawns in the world there. My children prefer this to the Little Russian salad that you can find all over Spain -  probably because it has more potatoes and less vegetables. You can do a summery lighter variation of this with white melon and prawns - it sounds like an odd combination but it is delicious.  You need:
- 500 gr potatoes
- 350 gr prawns (un-shelled)
- mayonnaise (1 egg, 200 ml sunflower oil, salt, juice of half a lemon)
- water
- salt

Fill a pan with lots of salty boiling water. Put the unshelled prawns into the pan, lower the heat and let them simmer for 2-3 minutes (the prawns should be pink - but do not over boil them or they will become dry). Take the prawns out of the water, but keep the water. Un-shell the prawns (don't get impatient because it just takes 3-4 minutes and the kids can help on this) cut them into mouthful chunks, and put the shells (including the heads of the prawns) back into the pan. Add the diced potatoes to the water and boil for 7-8 minutes until they are tender (the exact amount of time depends on the kind of potato that you may use). Take the potatoes our of the water and drain them well but keep half a glass of the liquid. Mix the potatoes  with the prawns. Prepare a mayonnaise (see our '2 minutes mayonnaise' recipe) with the egg, sunflower oil, salt and lemon. Mix half a glass of the boiling water with the mayonnaise and finally mix the mayonnaise with the potatoes and prawns. Put it all into the fridge as it should be served cold.

Add some crusty bread and a green salad and that is lunch done.

RAZOR CLAMS

Razor clams are not very popular in the UK, but in Spain they are a delicatessen. The best way to eat them is grilled. You need:
- a couple of razor clams per person
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
-2 cloves of garlic
- parsley
- half a lemon
- salt

Fill a bowl with cold water. Add a generous amount of salt (a couple of spoonfuls), put the clams into the bowl and let them rest for a couple of hours. That way you will ensure there is no sand inside the clams as the sand miraculously gets out win you add the salty water (without you having to clean the clams one by one)

Then blend the oil and garlic in a blender or just by mincing the garlic and adding it to the oil (I usually blend half a glass of oil with garlic in the weekends and keep it in a glass jar. It lasts for a week and you can use it for grilling and also for roasting vegetables)

Heat a grilling pan, add the oil and garlic, immediately afterwards add the clams and wait for a minute (a minute and a half at the most) Put the clams on the serving plate and sprinkle them with parsley and lemon juice. I think they do not need salt, but if you disagree, then add some.

The shape of these clams is interesting for kids, because they look like knives. In fact in Spain they are called 'navajas', i.e. pen-knives.

CHICKPEAS WITH TOMATO

This is a really good dish for a really cold day. You need:

- 100 g of chorizo (cubed)
- 60 g of serrano ham or bacon (cubed) - this is better with ham
- a tin of chickpeas (400 gr)  - you can also boil the chickpeas yourself, but this naturally adds time.
- a glass of water
- an onion (sliced thinly)
- a garlic clove (minced)
- half a glass of tomato sauce (see our recipe - you can also do this with chopped tomatoes from a tin)
- a teaspoon of parsley (chopped thinly)
- 5 piquillo peppers (cut them in thin stripes)

Heat the chorizo and ham/bacon in a pan under low heat (do not add any oil as they will release a lot of fat - if you are on a January diet then get rid of a bit of the fat they release with a spoon). After three minutes add the onion and let it fry gently for 5-6 minutes until it gets golden. Then add the tomato and minced garlic (if you are using tinned tomatoes let it bubble for 5 minutes, but if you are using sauce there is no need to wait). Add the chickpeas (do not add the brine - I actually wash the chickpeas to get rid of the brine salt, but you may not feel this is necessary). Then add the water and peppers and let it all simmer for 15-20 minutes so that you send end up with a gooey stew. Since the bacon and chorizo are salty I do not think this needs any salt, but if you wish then add some. Sprinkle with the parsley just as you are going to serve it.

You can prepare the day before you are going to eat it. Children find it very easy to help with this dish, as indeed it is a simple dish.

THANK YOU AND HAKE 'A LA GALLEGA'

This is a gorgeous Spanish celebratory dish that I am sharing with you to thank all the women (and also a few men!) who have joined and enquired about Inspiring Women on the back of guest editing the Today programme. An interesting experience - and I managed to upset a junior minister and the conservative media, which only made it all that 'tiny little bit more fun' ;-)
 To top this up, another country interested in mirroring the campaign has been in touch: that makes 11 now. This will definitely be the year of the internationalisation of the campaign, isn't that great?

(If you are reading this and do not know what I am talking about, just click on http://www.inspiringthefuture.org/inspiring-women/ and register   It is only one hour per year, so everybody can do it)

Back to the dish. You need really fresh hake for this- if you cannot get it, then don't even try. It is also really important to do this with slices as opposed to steaks, don't ask me why. You need:
- a slice of hake per person
- a big potato per person (peeled)
- 4 bay leaves
- an onion
- 2 tablespoons of paprika (pimenton)
- 5 tablespoons of (good) olive oil
- water
- salt

Bring to the boil two litters of water, the bay leaves, salt and the onion (cut in half) in a big pan. Put in the potatoes (I also cut them in half) and boil them for 10-15 minutes until almost tender. Salt the fish stakes on both sides, put fthe ish in the pan, lower the heat and leave it in for 5 minutes ensuring the water does not boil (i.e. if you see any bubbles in the water take the pan off the heat - I know this sounds petty, but if the water boils the fish will get dry and you would have wasted your time and money…) After 5 minutes, get the pan off the heat and wait for another 5 minutes. Get the fish and potatoes off the water with a slotted spoon and put them on a plate. Mix the oil and paprika and one table spoon of the boiling liquid and pour it over the fish and potatoes. It is one of the best ways to eat hake.

Children can help with it all (and like to pour the pimenton oil over the fish) but be careful if they help to take the fish out of the pan as it can easily break.

CHICKPEAS WITH SQUID

I was served this dish earlier this week at a business working lunch in Madrid. I was dying to ask the waiter for the recipe, but did not dare to do it out of concern that asking for a recipe at a business lunch where everybody else was male would make me look fluffy... I know... all that talk about feminism… Still, I have tried to replicate the recipe and tested it on some female friends (who are as 'up there' on gender rights as I am, but agree it is not OK to ask for recipes at business lunches...though they actually think it is OK to talk about football!)

You may think I am being immodest, but this is even better that the dish I tried.  So perhaps not asking for the recipe was not a bad idea after all...

You need:
- 200 gr chickpeas (soak them in water overnight)
- two table spoons of oil plus more oil for frying the garnish squid.
- half a green pepper
- a tomato (peeled)
- an onion (quartered)
- a quarter of a teaspoon of paprika (pimenton)
-900 ml fish stock (I do not often use stock but it actually makes a big difference here)
- a bay leaf
-a teaspoon of parsley
- two squids (cut it in mouthful pieces)
- 3 tablespoons of flour (or even better, 1 tablespoon of plain flour and 2 of chickpeas flour)
- salt

Put the stock, green pepper, tomato, onion, bay leaf, parsley and oil in a pan and heat it until it gets warm. Then add the chickpeas and salt. Let it boil and then simmer for 1.30 hours.  Take the tomato, onion, pepper and a cup of water out of the pan and blend it. Put it back into the pan and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Separately heat a pan (do not add any oil). Reserve the 'legs' of the squid and two squares of squid per person for the final garnish. When the pan is hot add all the squid except for the garnish and wait for  2-3 minutes so that they get a hard consistency. Add the squid to the pan with the chickpeas and boil for 10 more minutes.


Finally heat olive oil, coat the squid with the flour/s and fry them until they are golden on all sides (3 minutes in total)

Serve the chickpeas in bowls and add the fried squid on top of the soup as garnish.

The children liked seeing the change of texture of the squid when they are put on the pan. And my little ones never fails to enjoy any blending.

PIG's CHEEKS IN WINE SAUCE

This is a truly gorgeous dish, and for very little money. Pig's cheeks are a very underrated cut - half a kilo of pig's cheeks feeds five people and costs under five pounds but if you cook it properly the meat is a real delicacy.

The best manner to each pig's cheeks is roasted, but that would require roasting a whole pig's head, which I think might be one step too close to the food chain for my kids.  Anyway, if you do want to try this, preheat the over at 200 degrees, put the pig's head in your sink and clean it well, pour boiling water over the head at least three times to get rid of any germs, dry it well, add salt (all around), cover the ears with foil and then put it into the oven for 1.5 hours (ears side down). After that time turn the head around, uncover the ears and roast for another 1-1.15 hours.

If the head is not for you, then try this much more civilised recipe which is divine. You need:
- 10 pig's cheeks
- salt
- flour ( 3-4 tablespoons)
- 2 carrots (diced)
- 2 onions (diced)
- 1 clove of garlic (sliced)
- a stick of celery (sliced thinly)
- a red peper (diced)
- a leek (chopped thinly)
- a pinch of parsley leaves (chopped thinly)
- a bay leave
- half a litre of red wine though I prefer to use 250 ml of red wine and 250 ml of sweet wine, like Malaga, Pedro Jimenez, Marsala or even port.
- one glass of water
- one and a half tablespoons of vinegar
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil

 Salt the cheeks, dust them with flour and fry them in the olive oil on both sides until they get golden (a couple of minutes on each side). Take them off the pan and reserve them. Then add all the vegetables, fry them for 5 minutes over medium heat, add the checks, pour the wine and water, wait until there are bubbles in the sauce, cover with a lid, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 1 hour. Then add the vinegar and let it simmer for another 45 minutes.  The result should be really tender, buttery meat with a thick sauce.

This tastes better if you eat it the following day. I serve it with potato cubes fried in olive oil (just heat the oil, fry the potato cubes for 3 minutes on each side, put them on kitchen paper to get rid of excess oil and add salt).

BEANS WITH CLAMS - ALUBIAS CON ALMEJAS

This is a very typical dish from Asturias, one of the most stunning regions in Spain where we go every year on holiday. The logo of Asturias is 'a natural paradise', and it is one of the few places where you can find proper alpine-like mountains just forty minutes away from a gorgeous coast line.  If you like outdoor activities and sport, look no further. 

The dish is also the only way to make my youngest son eat clams. 

You need:

-       500 gr white beans 

-       1 onion (cut in two)

-       half a green pepper

-       2 cloves of garlic

-       a pinch of paprika

-       a bay leaf

-       water  - enough to cover the beans, around 1.5 l and then a couple of additional glasses of water (though if you have good fish stock this will be even better)

-       a pinch of saffron

-       a quarter of a teaspoon of parsley (chopped thinly)

-       salt

-       800 gr good clams

-       2 tablespoons olive oil

Soak the beans in water overnight. Then put them in a big pan with the water and salt,  green pepper, onion and garlic cloves (all vegetables should be whole) the olive oil and the bay leaf. Let it come to the boil and then reduce the heat to minimum and let it simmer. After on hour throw in the paprika, saffron, salt and also a glass of cold water (in Asturias this is said to ‘scare the beans’ and makes them softer). Add another glass of cold water after another half an hour. After that time take the pepper, garlic cloves and onion out with a bit of the cooking liquid and blend it. Then put the blended liquid back into the pan. Normally the overall cooking time is 2 hours (though it can take up to 2.45  hours depending on the size and quality of the white beans. As you can see in the picture ours were gigantic. In any case the final result should be silky beans, as soft as butter.

Separately (and after the beans are cooked) heat a frying pan, add the clams (clean them well beforehand) and half a glass of white wine. Wait until the clams open up (discard those that do not), put the clams on top of the beans and also add the clams liquids to it (put it though a sift first as sometimes clams have a bit on sand in them). 

Serve immediately.

Trust me on this one: it really is paradise food.

PICADILLO - CHORIZO MINCE

Sorry for the long silence, but have spent most of the free time on the holiday writing the book. Have also made lots of progress on Inspiring Women, especially on trying to launch the campaign internationally  - with a bit of luck you will hear more on this in the next few weeks.

Anyway, back to food and to the blog: this is a recipe for picadillo, the meat that is used to make chorizo.

You need:

-       1 Kg pork shoulder and 50 gr pork belly (minced together – ask the butcher to mince them)

-       1.5 teaspoons of salt

-       1 clove of garlic (minced)

-       4 generous teaspoons pimenton (paprika)

-       3 teaspoons white wine

-       a pinch of cumin (powdered)

-       a teaspoon of oregano (dried)

Mix all the ingredients (use plastic gloves for this or you will smell of paprika for the rest of the day) and let them rest for 24 hours in the fridge covered with cling film. Fry it in a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil for 10 minutes until it starts getting a bit brown.

Serve with eggs or bread or on its own.

COD WITH GARLIC MOUSSELINE

This is a way to prepare cod that became fashionable in Spanish restaurants a few years ago. It is very simple to make. You need:

- one fresh cod steak per person (this recipe is for four steaks) - the recipe is even better if you do it with salted cod,which is a great product, but for some inexplicable reason it is too difficult to find salted cod in the UK. 

- 2 eggs whites

- one egg yoke

- half a clove of garlic

- half a teaspoon of parsley

- 4 generous tablespoons of mayonnaise (shop bought is fine)

- salt

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees. 

Salt the cod steaks and put them on a roasting tray (if you want you can oil a bit the tray beforehand, but it is not really necessary).  Whisk the egg whites. Separately blend the mayonnaise, egg yoke, garlic and parsley (you can do this in a food processor or with a hand held blender). Mix carefully the mayonnaise mixture with the egg white and pour it over the steaks covering them completely (or just cover each steak if you want less sauce). Bake for 20 minutes.  

If your children do not like the garlic flavour you can do this without the garlic, but then add another egg yoke to the mayonnaise mixture.

Children can easily help with most of the preparation for this, but ask them to be careful when they mix the mayonnaise and the egg white as if they mix too energetically you will loose all the egg whites' air.

FRIED EGG

This is my middle son's favourite weekend breakfast: crispy egg fried, white bread toast and Iberico ham. He is happy to eat this at any time of the day though.

To make a fried egg crispy just fry it in very hot oil. Garcia Lorca, a very famous Spanish writer ('The House of Bernarda Alba' is his most famous play in the UK, but you should really try the poem "Lament for the Death of Ignacio Sanchez Mejias' or the theater play 'Yerma') used to call these 'eggs with lace' ('huevos fritos con puntilla').

You just need: an egg, a pinch of salt, five table spoons of oil  and a small frying pan. Put the oil on the pan, heat it until it gets smoky, crack the egg on the oil, add salt, get a spoon and pour some of the hot oil on top of the egg. It should take barely 30 seconds (though it depends on how runny you like the yoke). Eat it immediately.

PORRUSALDA

This is a very simple (and very cheap) Basque recipe. This is its vegetarian version, though it is even better is you add salt cod to it (not easy to get it in the UK)

You need:
- 5 leeks (in thick slices)
- three potatoes (in medium size chunks)
- 3 carrots (in thick slices)
- half an onion (chopped thinly)
- 750 l water
- a pinch of sweet paprika
- olive oil (2 tablespoons)
- salt

Heat the olive oil in a pan. Fry the onion (low heat)  for 5 minutes until it is translucent. Then increase the heat to medium and add the leeks. Fry for another 7 minutes. Add the carrots and potatoes and continue frying it all for 8 more minutes. Add the salt, paprika and then the water and let it all simmer for 25 minutes (do not stir it or you will break the potatoes).

Do not be tempted to add stock as the whole point of this is that you taste the leeks. This is actually something good for the children to learn: a tomato soup should taste of tomatoes, a leek soup of leeks, a potato soup of potatoes, not of chicken or any other vegetables…the current obsession to add stock to everything and make it 'packed full of flavours' is fine for a special meal at a restaurant but absurd at home. Keep the flavours clean and they'll learn to recognise what they eat.

CRUMBS - MIGAS

This is not for the children, it is for you. You know that time when you come home seriously late with friends after a drinking and dancing night desperate for food before you call it a day? This is what 'migas' are for - the most wonderful combination of carbohydrates and fat ( and if you have been dancing all those calories are OK for once). I promise you they can cure any hangover (I even had to give a speech the morning after my last night out and it went perfectly fine) They are so good that I made them again this weekend with the children.

Originally they were shepherd's food from the main plain in Spain, though some posh Spanish restaurants serve them as a starter now.

You need:
- 4 handfuls of cubed bread. Best is the white bit of baguettes that you can break down with your fingers, but cubed loaf bread is fine.
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- two garlic cloves
- half a red pepper ( or even better a dried Spanish pepper called 'nora')
- a pinch of paprika
- a quarter of a glass of water
- a quarter of a teaspoon of salt
- 60 g of cubed bacon or pancetta (they sell this already cubed in supermarkets)
- 60g of cubed chorizo (they also sell it already cubed in supermarkets)
- a handful of green grapes (cut in halves)

Dissolve the salt in the water and sprinkle it (not too much) over the cubed bread. Put it on a kitchen towel and press firmly so that you get rid of the excess moisture.  Heat the oil in a big frying pan. Fry the garlic cloves and peppers for 5 minutes (low heat). Discard the garlic and peppers. Fry (in the same oil) the bacon and chorizo for another 3-4 minutes, then add the paprika and finally the bread. Fry it all over medium heat for 8-ish minutes until the bread is golden. Take it off the heat and add the grapes (I know it is a bit weird to add grapes but it really works well)

My 11 and 13 years old sons though this was: easy, seriously good, and also very cool, though the latter is only because I told them this is a good dish to know for the  times when they will go clubbing when they are older. Probably not too good parenting skills - but it is never too early to learn about the important things in life...